Help Wanted: Priests Needed

We are looking for a few good women and men to answer their call to an ordained ministry for the Holy, Catholic, Church of God within the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart, Christ Catholic Church. The fields are ripe and the laborers few.

The mainstream churches are in transition and turmoil. Both the Roman Catholic and the Episcopal Church are experiencing a shortage of priests perhaps like never before and their church numbers are declining. The Church Universal is slowly becoming irrelevant in the lives of people across the world at an alarming rate.

We are in need of renewal, we are in need of compassion, we are in need of passion, we are in need of true shepherds willing to serve His sheep. We are in need of open minds and loving hearts. We are in need of these vocations now.

The “autocephalous (self-governing) sacramental movement,” of which the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart is a part, stands in the gap. We stand ready to minister to the needs of His people without the rigidity, institutionalism, and judgmentalism found in the mainstream churches. We only need your commitment and help to do so.

Have you already been ordained in a sacramental church but now find yourself without support from that church? No problem, we can help! Are you a former Roman Catholic priest who has fallen in love and been married and now find yourself kicked out and thrown away? No problem, we can help! Has your sexuality been the cause of you holding back on ministry or worse yet has it been a reason you have been refused ordination? No problem, we can help! Do you lack the education and money to obtain the education necessary for ordination? No problem, we can help! Do you have a family, job, and responsibilities that prevent you from being able to pull up stakes and jump through institutional hoops for ordination? No problem, we can help! We really can!

Think about your calling. Do you have a call to truly serve God’s people? Do you yearn to minister to their needs being there for them during the good times as well as the dark times? Do you have a burning desire to preach the Gospel or celebrate the Holy Eucharist and other Holy Sacraments of the Church? Do you find yourself praying seemingly without ceasing for friends, family, loved ones, and the world at large? Do you lose yourself in Scripture and find yourself drawn to the writings of the matriarchs, patriarchs, apostles, and prophets? Do you have an over powering passion to devote your life to Christ, picking up your own cross and following Him? Do you simply want to give with no thought of recompense for yourself? If the answer to these questions is yes then read on.

In the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart we require compassion fueled by love. We require an open mind and a willing heart to think “out side of the box.” We thrive on diversity, ingenuity, and creativity. In the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart we are much more of a family and much less of an institution.

While we can offer you emotional, spiritual, and educational support we can not offer financial support of any kind. We provide ecclesiastical endorsement through the establishment of the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart, education through our seminary Whithorn School of Theology, and support to our ministers through our fellowship, prayers, and experience but all of the clergy within the Shepherd’s Heart must look to provide their own incomes by other means. We do not offer stipends, salaries, or other fiduciary benefits. All of us are “worker clergy” supporting ourselves with secular jobs, retirement, or whatever is necessary to and for our state of living.

If you have always felt called to an ordained ministry but for one reason or another find yourself not ministering in the way or place you feel called to do so, won’t you please contact us and let’s explore your vocation together.

For more information please read our “Vocations” page on the main website and if you feel so called, contact us and let’s begin discernment together.

If you wish to make application to join the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart you may do so by downloading the application and following the enclosed instructions. Thank you again for your interest in our community, the Order of the Shepherd’s Heart!

We look forward to hearing from you and may God bless you in your calling now and always!